In July / August we had the summer holidays, that lasted for six weeks. We had a lovely time just relaxing, not having to get up early for the school run each morning.
Then Grant's parents were visiting for six weeks. We had a great time with them and it was so nice to have them visit.
Then my mom came for a week. It was lovely to have her here, we just had a nice relaxing time.
But it's also wonderful to have the house to ourselves now, and to get back to normal and establish a little routine! One of the blessings of life is contrast - it makes us appreciate the opposite even more. Having spent so much time alone (and lonely) this year made me fully enjoy our family's visits ... and having guests for almost two months has made me appreciate our quiet little routines.
One of the two questions still remaining to be answered from my Q&A post is from Fiji75 and she asked,
You have so many lovely things documented - What is a 'typical' day like for you?
It's taken me this long to answer this question because I honestly couldn't even remember, it's been that long since I've had a "typical" day! Even normally, with Grant's shifts each day is different. But I'll try to lay out what would usually happen ... and our variations.
My alarm goes off at 7:45am and I head for the shower while the kids entertain themselves and Daniel gets dressed for school. I then give them breakfast ...
... except when Grant has come in on time from night shift, which ends at 7am, in which case he gives the kids breakfast while I snooze until 8:15!
At 8:45 I walk Daniel to school (with Noah if Grant isn't around; if Grant is around I leave Noah with him or else Grant walks Daniel down). Once back home I do some housework such as laundry, cleaning kitchen, vacuuming, cleaning etc (not all on one day, are you mad? Gotta pace myself!) I might fit in some crafting if Noah is busy playing by himself and the house is under control. I might read books to Noah or coerce him into helping me with housework. We might walk down the road into town to visit the post office, library, farmer's market etc.
At noon I make lunch for Noah and I and after we've eaten I change him into his preschool polo shirt and sweatshirt. At 12:50 I walk him to preschool.
Once he's there I have 2 and a half hours until I pick the boys up together. During this time I catch up on work, blog post, read my Google feeds, maybe some crafting, etc. Maybe cook to freeze, or a bit of housework or baking or gardening. Or I might do a little shopping by myself (e.g. charity shops / thrift stores). If Grant is off shift we might go out to lunch together or walk into town or work on something around the house.
At 3:20 I pick Daniel up and we chat for ten minutes until 3:30 when Noah comes out of preschool, then we all walk home. If Grant is around he picks the boys up.
For the next couple of hours the boys have a snack and then play together while I potter around, maybe go on the computer a bit more if they're on theirs in the same room, make dinner, finish tidying up etc. Grant and I either do our Wii Fitness during this time or we'll leave it until after the boys are in bed. If Grant is around he'll play with the boys (Xbox, Wii or just silly games).
Dinner is at 5:30 and then at around 6:15 or so the boys go up for bath time. They'll play in the bath for a while and then the bedtime hassles start at around 7:30. Who knows what time they end; depends on how patient I am, how tired Noah is, how tired Daniel is (if he ignores Noah and tries to go to sleep or if he plays with him).
I usually put on my pyjamas when the boys are in the bath; I can't wait to get them on each evening!
Once the boys are down my brain is officially off duty. Grant is a night owl (I'm a morning person) and it drives me nuts when he tries to ask me thinking questions (e.g. work on our budget, plan things) or get me to do some work with him - ask me in the morning, not when I've clocked out for the night!
If Grant is on lates he'll be at work in the evenings. If he's on nights he leaves around 8:30pm. If he isn't working then we'll usually watch an episode of CSI, Without a Trace, Bones etc that we get on our DVD subscription and / or chill on the computer or play on the Wii.
I get to bed anytime between 9:00 if I am aiming for an early night (rare) or more like 11pm usually (although sometimes after midnight).
So that's a pretty typical day for me! Not overly interesting, but I like my life so that works out just fine :o)
